Erratic driver complaint leads to DWI, drug charges

GUILDERLAND  Police arrested a Troy man for allegedly driving while impaired and possessing drugs after receiving a complaint about a gray Honda driving “all over the road,” according to police reports.

The Guilderland Police Department received a complaint around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 13, claiming someone was driving erratically on Carman Road heading toward Western Avenue. Police located the car at the intersection of the two roads as the driver, Carlos Raul Sayan, 51, of 400 McChesney Ave. Ext., turned left on Western Avenue. Police then allegedly saw Sayan make an abrupt lane charge without using his directional signal.

Sayan allegedly had glassy eyes, slurred speech, appeared tired and there was a “strong” odor of alcohol coming from his car, according to police. There were also allegedly in plain view several glassine baggies on the front passenger side floor and a clear syringe with brown colored liquid inside of it on the floor near his left foot. Police said the baggies are commonly used for transporting heroin.

Sayan allegedly told police he had consumed three around an hour and a half before being stopped. Police said he failed standard field sobriety tests and had a BAC of 0.07 percent.

After he was arrested, police searched his vehicle and allegedly found three Suboxone patches, which is a narcotic used to treat opioid dependence, underneath some papers on the front passenger seat. The baggies allegedly contained a “minor amount” of an off-white powdered substance, police said.

Sayan was arrested without incident and charged with DWI, operating a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, possession of a hypodermic instrument, illegal signal and failure to stay in a single lane.